


Magic and family

by Kerolunaticat



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), Legend of the Three Caballeros (Cartoon), The Three Caballeros (1944)
Genre: Let me know if you find any mistakes, my first fanfic in english
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2019-10-13 18:19:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17492885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerolunaticat/pseuds/Kerolunaticat
Summary: Scrooge McDuck knows that his family is in danger, in his eagerness to protect them he loses control of the situation and now the life of one of his nephews is at risk ... the world is at risk.





	1. Chapter 1

One would expect that the enormous and luxurious mansion of Scrooge Mcduck was a reflection of the famous millionaire; cold, quiet, reserved ... empty. This could be seen on the outside but those who really knew Scrooge knew that inside was completely different from how they perceived him, and that the luxurious mansion was actually a battlefield or playground depending on the agenda of the day.

 

"That's not how you play dodgeball!” shouted a green duckling hiding behind the couch.

 

“Of course it is!” Said the elder in blue who was on the wooden railing with a ball in hand.

 

“You just can’t stand to see us win!”

 

Huey, who was hiding behind a piece of furniture, raised his head to speak. “He means you shouldn’t hit us so hard!”

 

Just as he finished speaking a ball with the speed of a bullet passed by his head.

 

"This game is not for the weak!" Webby shouted, who with her maniacal smile and her heat detection glasses looked frightening.

 

The one in red made a pirouette and jumped behind the couch where the smallest of the triplets was hidden. Dewey threw his ball again and again, every moment that bounced in another direction he had to stop to reach it.

 

But Webby, oh no ... she did not stop. Each throw was done in angles to hit his opponent and return the ball to her at the same time, making it look like she was throwing not one but ten balls.

 

“Uncle! Uncle!” Louie shouted behind the couch covering his head.

 

“We are at war! There’s no such a thing as uncle!” the girl shouted releasing a maniacal laugh.

 

“Oh no! What do we do!?” said the one in green desperately.

 

“Rule number 20 of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook: Stay calm in difficult situations!”

 

Louie gasped for air but it was hard to control himself when it looked like they were on a battlefield.

 

“Okay… okay” his uncle had told him that like his mother he could see the whole scene and the environment, from strong points to weak ones. Not only was he good with speech and compliments, but he could also take advantage of any situation if he observed the whole problem.

 

“We need to stop Webby first. She is the most dangerous. Once we defeat her, Dewey will be the easiest to beat”

 

“I heard that!” shouted the aforementioned but no one paid him attention.

 

Louie continued speaking softly “She knows that the moment we leave the couch we are dead, she is trying to hit us blindly”

 

The one in red nodded and watched the trajectory of the ball.

 

“There is a pattern in her attack” he said pointing to the projectile that bounced around the room.

 

“Floor, ceiling, wall, floor, ceiling, receives it and throws it again ... Dewey is ... throwing it like an idiot”

 

“Well, do you have a plan?”

 

Huey nodded with a smile.

 

Webby was still throwing the ball slightly changing her shot to make sure it bounced everywhere behind the couch where her opponents were hiding, however the moment she launched it she heard the impact against a body that changed the trajectory of the ball which rolled out of the room.

 

"I hit him!" She exclaimed with her hands raised, but Huey appeared behind the chair, book in hand.

 

"I'm afraid the only thing you hit was one of my Junior Woodchuck Guidebook copies”

 

“A-ha!” hoping to take him by surprise, Dewey threw his ball against his brother, who simply dodged it taking a step to the left with a bored expression on his face.

 

Knowing that now they were exposed the girl wanted to run into the hall but Huey shouted "Think fast!" At the time he threw a red object at her.

 

Ha! Clumsy on his part in announcing his attack, she could dodge it easily.

 

What she did not see is that Louie was already waiting for that evasive maneuver that left her in the perfect trajectory of the ball that he had thrown.

 

It hit her in the head.

 

She had fallen down.

 

Dewey had observed everything, how they disarmed her; the distraction with Huey's cap and Louie's final blow.

 

“NOOO …!" He shouted as if he were in a scene in slow motion and the next moment he felt the blow of a ball against his back that made him fall to the ground. Turning around he saw his older brother with a triumphant smile. He had inserted the last blow.

 

They had lost.

 

Huey and Louie looked at each other in amazement, a smile slowly drawing on their beaks until it was transformed into laughter of disbelief and amazement. At last they had defeated the unstoppable duo.

 

“We did it!”

 

“I can’t believe it!”

 

And it was worth celebrating, because all the time they had lived with Webby they had never been able to defeat her in a game.

 

“We were so close to glory ... that when we wanted to touch the sun we only burned …" Dewey exclaimed on his knees with one hand held high.

 

“Wow! That was amazing, guys!" Webby shouted excitedly as she approached them.

 

“No, it wasn’t fair, that was cheating!”

 

Huey crossed his arms defending himself “All is fair in love and war!”

 

Dewey was going to respond in outrage but Louie won the word with hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt and a huge and smug smile.

 

“I think you just can’t stand to see us win!”

 

That’s it!

 

In the midst of the courage the one in blue took one of the nearest balls and without thinking he threw it with force towards his brothers. Both Huey and Louie could dodge without problem, but the ball kept bouncing around the room until it came out one of the entrances and there was a cry of surprise.

 

“Oh no…" Dewey mumbled scared.

 

The youngest hit his head in exasperation. "Now what did you do?”

 

Before they could say more, or at best, flee the scene their uncle Scrooge appeared with his hat crooked and several untidy feathers.

 

“Who did this?!”

 

Before Louie could raise his hand accusingly to the responsible Huey he lowered it slowly and continued holding his hand, because they had agreed that they would not give themselves away if someone caught them playing.

 

After seeing that nobody responded and that all watched him expectant, he shouted:

 

“Enough! No more dodgeball inside the house!” and began to collect the balls, to this the dissatisfied children reacted.

 

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

 

“But we didn’t break anything!”

 

“We will be more careful next time!”

 

Scrooge ignored them.

 

“Careful my feathers!” Walking down the hallway he found his housekeeper to whom he handed the colored balloons.

 

“Form now on you’ll only play with marbles!”

“I thought marbles were forbidden too” murmured Louie to Webby.

 

“That’s not fair! You have not let us out of the mansion for nine days and you expect us to just play with marbles?!” Dewey shouted waiting for an explanation.

 

“It is because you are grounded!”Scrooge replied.

 

“Under what charges?” Huey intervened showing his knowledge and great vocabulary.

 

“Disobey me!”

 

“You have no evidence to prove it and we haven’t disobeyed you!”

 

Louie and Webby looked at each other, the situation was heating up and they knew that an annoyed Huey was like dealing with an annoyed Donald.

 

Dangerous.

 

"Yes, all that he said!" Dewey argued, but the oldest interrupted him again.

 

“You won’t even let me go to Junior Woodchuck reunions! I've lost the chance to win three badges just because you do not let us out th-… thanks to this STUPID PUNISHMENT!

 

His lisp had returned, it only appeared when he was very agitated, but that was the least of his problems for now.

 

Scrooge frowned and threatened him with a low voice.

 

“... You ... _you have no voice or vote in this house_ , you're just a guest, so don’t you dare to raise your voice towards me, young man…"

 

The gasping of everyone present was heard.

 

Huey opened his eyes surprised, opened and closed his beak a couple of times without being able to answer. Dewey felt that his anger was overflowing, nobody talked to his brother like that!

 

"Mr. Mcduck!" His housekeeper restrained him.

 

“Bah!”

 

The duck adjusted the crooked hat strongly, turned and went to his office.

 

Bentina sighed, then looked at the ducklings in front of her.

 

 “Do not take it personally, your uncle is very stressed by work, you must understand him”

 

Dewey crossed his arms. “No! he went too far! Huey didn’t do anything wrong!”

 

Louie added, "It's true! He can’t talk to him like that just because he had a stressful day!” he exclaimed making a quotation mark with his fingers.

 

Crestfallen and upset, Huey refrained from making any comment, Webby placed her hand on his friend's shoulder.

 

“But, granny! We didn’t do anything and suddenly we can not leave the mansion!”

 

It was true, one day they were exploring the unknown in an adventure and the next they discovered a punishment that did not allow them to leave the mansion.

 

At first they were only surprised because they didn’t think it would last long. But when they passed the seven days that was the average in which their uncle Donald punished them, they began to get impatient, and when the time came to attend the meetings of the Junior Woodchuck without Huey being able to do it was when they began to suspect.

 

Sure, they tried to investigate, but when he wanted his uncle Scrooge he could be quite evasive.

 

Dewey was desperate, he was adventurous and needed to go out and explore the world.

 

Huey loved the knowledge he gained with every adventure and like his brother, being locked up bothered him. He could not stand it.

 

Webby and Louie were different. Well, she was used to not leaving the mansion and the other child loved laziness and repudiated adventures that did not involve treasure.

 

“I told you that he has his reasons” then maneuvering the balloons she had in her arms she managed to take out of her pocket a little net with marbles.

 

“Here, you can play with these in your room”

 

The children looked at the bag with disinterest and obeyed returning to their room.

 

Dewey slammed the door when everyone had entered.

 

"Careful, or Uncle Scrooge will be upset with you" mocked the one in green sitting on a bean bag couch.

 

“ARGH! I'm sick of this! "Dewey yelled, walking in circles.

 

“He cannot leave us locked up forever without any explanation and ... and! HE DOESN’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SPEAK TO HUEY LIKE THAT!”

 

For his part, the oldest of the triplets that sat on Louie's bed looked away, covering his face with the visor of his cap.

 

“No, I-I shouldn’t have said that…" everyone in the room turned to him simultaneously because his broken voice did not go unnoticed.

 

"It was not your fault" said Webby sitting next to him, his brothers looked at each other for a second before joining her.

 

“What I did was wrong…"

 

Now they were sure he was crying. Dewey put his arm around his shoulders.

 

“No! You are right and he is stupid for saying those things! Adults are stupid!”

 

"Yeah!" Exclaimed the other two, although that statement included loved ones like Launchpad or her grandmother.

 

Huey sniffed.

 

“...But, the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook says that you should always listen to your guide or an adult…”

 

“Not if he is being stupid” Dewey said with certainty that made his older brother smile.

 

It was when an idea occurred to him and he jumped out of his seat.

 

“We are going out today!” he announced with his hands on his waist.

 

"Oh!" Webby exclaimed excitedly. “It will be a nocturnal adventure!”

 

Dewey snapped his fingers. “That’s right! We will leave in the middle of the night when no one notices!”

 

“But we can’t leave the mansion”

 

The problem with Huey is that he always listened to adults, he thought just because they were older they were right in everything they did and made him follow the rules to the letter.

 

Dewey rolled his eyes.

 

“I'm sick of being locked up! I'm so tired of being here that I'm even willing to do one of those Junior Woodchuck activities…” Louie said leaning on the wooden ladder looking at his fingers feigning disinterest “Who knows… maybe you could even win some badges while we are outside…"

 

That attracted Huey's attention. The minor could be very persuasive when he wanted.

 

“Maybe ... it wouldn’t be so bad to go out for a while…"

 

Dewey smiled. Everyone agreed, finally they would leave after nearly two weeks of confinement. What could go wrong?

 

“Well, this is what we’ll do"


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

It was time for dinner. Everyone was at the table, including Donald who, like everyone else, had a serious look and did not address Scrooge.

 

The boys thought that he had already found out about the fight with Huey and that was why he refused to look at him.

 

"Did you do something interesting today, kids?" He asked elegantly, his back straight and cutting his food with a knife.

 

 _Oh gosh…_ He even raised his pinkie while drinking his juice.

 

Without understanding half of what he had said the three responded with a “... _nah_ ”

 

“Louie? Could you pass the salt please?”

 

Confused, the one in green noticed that the container was much closer to Scrooge than to him.

 

Bentina placed her napkin on the table annoyed. She could be a very patient woman but Donald was the only one who could make her mad.

 

“Please Donald, you're old enough to continue with this game of the _silent treatment_ , if you want salt why don’t you ask Mr. Mcduck?”

 

The children looked up from their plates with interest. Scrooge, on the other hand, at the end of the table saw Donald with such hatred that if the looks could he would already be six feet under.

 

“Mrs. Beakley, could you check that the windows are closed? I think I heard a dog with _tonsillitis_ bark”

 

Everyone turned to see Donald, who had folded one of the forks with his hand and his face was turning a reddish color. Before he could get up to do his typical tantrum Scrooge interrupted him.

 

“Anyway children… How was _your_ day?”

 

Dewey responded while playing with his food indifferently.

 

“Oh ... I do not know, do you mean before or after you made my brother cry?”

 

Donald let go of the fork that struck loudly on the table.

 

Suddenly there was absolute silence.

 

Huey who was sitting next to Dewey elbowed him in the ribs and Scrooge looked away in embarrassment.

 

Then it was Huey who had cried…

 

“You did WAHT?!” exclaimed Donald furiously.

 

“You didn’t know?” asked Louie confused. “Weren’t you upset about that?”

 

“A-about wh-… What did you do old man?!” Donald got up from his seat.

 

“Watch your mouth, lad!” answered Scrooge rising as well.

 

Oh no…, they were going to fight again. If their uncle Donald had not heard about the argument between Scrooge and Huey it meant that he were upset about another situation that they didn’t know about. Although it was no surprise to the kids because in the last days the two had been on bad terms and fought every time they could,the most impressive thing was that Scrooge hadn’t thrown them out of the mansion.

 

“Huey what happened?!”

 

Whenever he required a sincere and truthful answer, it was the oldest of the triplets to which Donald appealed.

 

“Nothing!” His voice rose several octaves, revealing his mediocre attempt to lie.

 

Huey could be the most responsible of all but if he wanted to avoid fights or confrontations he would definitely hide his own problems.

 

Feeling that a family discussion was coming, Bentina looked for an excuse to give them space.

 

“I'll go for the desserts, will you come with me, dear?”

 

“Yes, granny”

 

Both left the dining room.

 

  Apparently their uncle Donald didn’t know about what had happened so Dewey, who was still upset with Scrooge, drew a smile on his face because he was more than willing to update him on the matter until he felt a pull on the sleeve of his shirt that took him out of his seat.

 

“Thanks-for-the-food-we-gotta-go… uh… have-homework-to-do!”

 

“Hey, no- wait!”

 

Huey exclaimed quickly as he pulled Dewey out of the dining room ignoring his protests, Louie followed immediately.

 

“Homework?” asked Scrooge.

 

Donald knew he was lying, so he tried to stop them.

 

“Huey, Dewey, Louie! Come back here!” he shouted with authority, but as expected, the children ignored him.

 

That left him alone with Scrooge.

 

“What did you say to him?”

 

“Nothing"

 

Another one who was lying!

 

“Well, it doesn’t sound like nothing to me, Huey doesn’t cry so easily”

 

If he wanted to know what happened, he was more than happy to make his uncle feel guilty.

 

“I… I didn’t want to hurt the boy” mumbled Scrooge looking away distressed.

 

Donald crossed his arms.

 

“Look…I know it’s frustrating what’s happening right now, but don’t take it out on my kids”

 

The millionaire let out a long sigh, running his hand down his tired face. He was exhausted, too much stress was taking a toll on him.

 

“Maybe if you let us out for a while …"

 

“No!” shouted hitting the table with his fists. “We have talked about this, it's very dangerous!”

 

“You are not even sure what’s out there!”

 

“Gentlemen ... if you want to keep this problem a secret, I recommend you to leave the conversations in the boardroom” Bentina announced as she entered the dining room.

 

“Where is Webby?”

 

"Relax Mr. Mcduck, I sent her to the children's room to help them with their ... _homework_ ... she will keep them busy for a while.”

 

“I hope so …" He sighed in relief.

 

“Sir, due to all respect: you can not continue like this” Bentina said, looking for a seat next to Donald, making her point clear.

 

“I thought you said that the discussions were for the boardroom …”

 

“In that place it seems that I do not have voice or vote ... regarding the safety of my granddaughter…” she said quietly looking into his eyes. “Just like... _others_ …”

 

Scrooge looked away and swallowed with difficulty.

 

Bentina continued:

 

“If you allow me to say it, Mr. Mcduck; I think you should consider telling the kids what's going on”

 

“Nothing is _going on_!” He shouted exalted, he was like a child throwing a tantrum.

 

“Then let us go out!” insisted Donald.

 

"No one puts a foot outside of this house!" Scrooge retorted, emphasizing each syllable with a blow of his index finger against the table.

 

Donald growled, rolling his eyes as Bentina squeezed the bridge of her beak from under her glasses.

 

It was like dealing with a temperamental child, but she had been a spy, one of the best in her class and also the grandmother of a hyperactive girl. She could deal with this.

 

“You know that keeping secrets doesn’t bring anything good. These kids are very smart, they know something is wrong and will soon discover it”

 

“Curse my kilts!”

 

“You little…” hissed Donald his face was turning red again. He was about to explode, but the woman grabbed him by the shoulder and shook her head when he looked at her. It was one of the few occasions in which they had a common goal and they were not going to ruin it.

 

“Sir…” She said casually “How much do you know about obsidian?”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

“Why you didn’t let me tell him? Uncle Donald would have been on our side and we could have…”

 

“What? Go outside? That would have ruined our plan” Huey replied.

 

“How do you know that? I think you don’t want me to tell him beca-”

 

“Guys!” yelled Webby while entering through the door with books on her backpack and a tray with pies in her hands.

 

“I beg your pardon for the delay!”

 

“Pardon?” Louie mocked softly.

 

She left the tray on a desk and with abnormal force for a girl of her age threw the heavy backpack on the floor and began to draw different books.

 

"I brought the desserts!" she announced with overflowing and unconvincing joy “And I also came to help you with your homework! What is it about? History? Algebra? Chemistry? …Oh I know! Alchemy!”

 

“No Webby, that was a lie to get out of there” Louie said without stopping looking at his phone.

 

“Oh…” she whispered with sudden realization “Then they are talking again… I suppose my granny wanted me out as well”

 

Dewey crossed his arms. "And do you have any idea what they're talking about? Because uncle Donald hasn’t told us anything and every time we try to spy on them, Mrs. Beakley catchus!”

 

“Let them…” Louie said casually taking a pie between his hands and passing one to Huey “If they want to keep their secrets that’s okay, our revenge comes tonight”

 

Then he started to explain…

 

“This is what we’ll do… First we will pretend to be mad at uncle Scrooge” 

 

Dewey interrupted him while sitting on the floor next to his siblings “I AM mad at him”

 

“Well… yes we are, but we will seclude ourselves in our room as poor helpless children, when he sees how sad we are he is going to try to apologize to us”

 

Dewey talked again “And we won’t accept-!”

 

“We will accept his apologies” said Louie rising his voice “So that Uncle Scrooge can sleep peacefully without feeling guilt, and so he won’t be checking on us during the night”

 

“He does that?” asked Huey bemused.

 

“You have no idea… anyway, uncle Donald will come to see us too” he said putting a hand under his peak hesitantly. “He won’t believe us if we act happy and as if nothing had happened, that will make him suspect; if I'm not mistaken he'll come to see us before uncle Scrooge does, so we can pretend to be-”

 

“Mad at Scrooge!” Dewey interrupted him again.

 

Without warning Louie punched him in the arm and continued.

 

“As I was saying ... we'll pretend to be worried about him ... will we ask things like did we do something wrong? or is Uncle Scrooge okay? and so ... that will help us to have uncle Donald forcing uncle Scrooge to come to our room sooner.

 

Huey raised his hand to speak.

 

“I feel bad doing this”

 

“Oh Huey, my brother… we aren’t doing anything wrongnor are we hurting anyone” he replied trying to convince him. “We are just trying to go out for a while, we will return before Scrooge gets up for one of his early meetings and if the coffee cannot hide our fatigue we will say that we stayed up late watching movies, that’s all”

 

Everyone in the room looked at him, stupefied.

 

“What?”

 

“Have I ever told you how awesome you are as the evil triplet?” Dewey said with a twinkle in his eyes.

 

Louie drew a half smile on his face. "How kind of you to finally admit it…"

 

____

 

It was almost 10 o'clock at night. After that ... talk ... he had a lot to think about. He had said hurtful things which he already regretted, but he was only trying to protect them. What was so hard to understand about that?

 

He sighed, falling against the back of his chair.

 

Even with the lights off, the brightness of the moon that came through the window could illuminate his office. With hesitant movements he dialed a number.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Gyro, it’s me. Did you get the message?”

 

“I’m surprised you know how to send emails” Scrooge ignored the comment.

 

“When can you have them ready?”

 

“I am offended by your question” answered the scientist “They will be ready for tomorrow morning”

 

“Perfect, I'll be waiting for you ... to try them first. Make sure you bring the necessary equipment”

 

Before the other could hang the duck he kept talking.

 

“Ah ... and Gyro …” The other remained silent.

 

“I do not want mistakes”

 

The scientist inhaled before answering “…There won’t be any”

 

Scrooge hung up and clasped his hands in front of his face leaning against his chair. He knew that Gearloose was aware of what was happening and what this task entailed.

 

He had confidence in his inventor, when he set his mind he could achieve great things.

 

He just hoped he was doing the right thing.

 

“I’m getting tired of this…” he muttered to himself before getting up from his seat and going to the children's room.

 

 

 

“Alert, Jack Sparrow is coming…” said Webby through a walkie talkie.

 

“You know his name isn’t Jack and that he is a duck, right?” Answered Dewey inside his room.

 

“You know what I meant!”

 

“Fine… okay everyone get to your places!” Dewey ordered in a whisper and instantly he and Louie threw themselves to the floor with the marbles scattered in front of them, and Huey sat next to his brothers pretending to read his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook.

 

“Are you sure you don’t wanna play with us, Huey?” Asked Louie loud enough for Scrooge to hear.

 

“…No, thanks, I’m fine…”

 

He took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

 

“… Webby, we told you we don’t wan-” fumed Dewey before Scrooge opened the door slowly.

 

“It’s me, lad. May come in?”

 

Dewey crossed his arms frowning, on the other hand with relaxed attitude Louie answered.

 

“Technically you are already inside"

 

“What do you want?” Asked Dewey rather harshly.

 

Scrooge tapped his cane nervously, this was harder than he thought.

 

“Well, I came to... offer you an apology” he couldn’t understand why this was so complicated to do. He was being sincere, he regretted the things he said... but not his actions. He loved his family more than anything and he was willing to do everything in his power to protect them.

 

Even if he betrayed his nephews trust.

 

The kids were looking at him, he couldn’t help to feel nervous at their scrutiny.

 

No one said a word, so he kept talking.

 

“I… I came to apologize to all of you”Huey looked up, still hiding behind his book

 

“The way I behaved was not correct, nor fair”

 

Dewey interrupted him “And?”

 

“And I shouldn’t have said those things, you are not guests, you are my family”

 

With folded arms he repeated again more insistently. “Aaand?"

 

“I shouldn’t get mad at you. You are children and you have the right to play”

 

“Aaaaand?”

 

“What else do you want me to say?”Exasperated the adult asked.

 

“I want you to admit that you acted like a fool and say that you’re sorry”

 

Scrooge rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine ... I acted like a fool and I'm very sorry”

 

Louie stood up.

 

“Say that to Huey, not us” he said pointing to the one in red “I’ve have never seen my poor brother so sad before!”

 

“That’s what I’ve been trying-“ he closed his beak and took a deep breath. ‘Keep it together’.

 

Distressed, Scrooge observed the eldest of his nephews; he looked nervous and was fidgeting with the book in his hands without even looking at him.

 

Releasing a sigh, he walked to where the kid was sitting and knelt in front of him.

 

"Lad?" Huey looked up. "Could you forgive this poor, dumb, decrepit old man?”

 

The boy's eyes shone with intensity, a smile appeared on his face, he rose from his place and hugged him.

 

In less than a second the others joined the hug.

 

“Aww kids ... I'm sorry about what happened”

 

Dewey looked at him with his huge, pleading eyes without letting go of the embrace.

 

“Does that mean we can go out?”

 

Scrooge frowned and got up releasing his nephews.

 

Oh darn, he hated the big puppy eyes technique. Three pairs of eyes were on him.

 

“I’m will think about it…”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Woohoo!”

 

The kids celebrated and Scrooge smiled.

 

“I said I was going to think about it”

 

“Better than nothing” answered Louie.

 

“All right, then you should go to sleep before I change my mind”

 

“Yes, Uncle Scrooge!" Said the triplets, picking up the marbles from the floor.

 

After changing into pyjamas and brushing their teeth they went to their respective beds.

 

“Goodnight lads” said the duck after turning off the lights.

 

“Goodnight Uncle Scrooge” answered the kids.

 

He closed the door after making sure they were asleep, but the moment he left the room the triplets raised from their bunks.

 

“Oh gosh! Let’s never talk about what just happened!” Exclaimed Louie.

 

“Agreed, what we did was... so Huey!” Said Deweybefore a pillow was thrown at his face by his older brother.

There was a laugh coming from one of the ventilation ducts.

 

“You can come out, Webby” grunted Huey.

 

“Are you ready to feel the power of freedom?” She said after jumping from the duct.

 

“I was born ready!” Answered Dewey while changing to his regular clothes.

 

“Guys, I was thinking... Uncle Scrooge said he would ‘think about it’, you think he... well, he will let us go out?”

 

Huey wanted to believe  their uncle would change his mind, but after a second of thinking all of his siblings responded with:

 

“Nope, nope...”

 

“Definitely no”

 

Louie took his hoodie “Then you know the drill”


	4. Chapter 4

“Ha! That was easy! Right guys?”

 

Head rised, hands on her hips and a triumphant smile on her face was the total opposite from the other three. The triples were on their knees, actually ...Louie was on the floor breathing heavily and sweeting profusely.

 

“Easy?!” Exclaimed Huey.

 

Louie rolled onto his stomach “Who the heck sets booby traps outside the manor?!”

 

“Uncle Scrooge” said the oldest deadpanned while Dewey laughed at the word booby.

 

“The question is why? Everything seems normal to me!” Said the girl and she was right. Friday night meant parties, going out; the streets of Duckburg were full of life with families walking, stores still open, happiness everywhere.

 

“Whatever... let’s enjoy the moment”

 

“You’re right! What do we do now? Go to the beach to fight a beast? Oh! Go to the forest tofind adventure and more beasts!”

 

“I’m with you, sis!” said Dewey.

 

“I’ve always wanted to go to one of those...” said Louie pointing to a building filled with people, lights and music.

 

“We are too young for that” answered Huey “Perhaps the beach could be a good option. Based on what happened I’m pretty sure Uncle Scrooge set up cameras in the forest. And more booby traps...” before Dewey could start laughing again he elbowed him in the arm.

 

“Ow! Beach party it is!” Exclaimed the middle triplet.

 

“...We don’t have anything to throw a party... or swimsuits” said Louie with a blank stare.

 

The other just crossed his arms and said with one rised eyebrow “I can swim naked”

 

“You aren’t going to swim naked!” chided Huey.

 

“Oh! I got it! The cave of the drowned!”

 

“The what now?!” Squawked Louie while Webby took his and Huey’s hand.

 

“Oh no! No no no no no!” But she paid him no mind and started running towards the beach, Dewey following them.

 

They ran between streets, passing stores and passers-by, at some point during the race Webby let go of Huey and Louie, Dewey was the only one who could match her speed. It was a race and she wasn’t going to lose.

 

“There’s a legend! But I know it is real!” After declaring herself winner Webby stopped abruptly causing her friend to collide with her. Dewey fell to the floor but she remained on her feet.

 

“Someone died there?” Dewey accepted the hand Webby offered him and stood up.

 

“Who… died?” panted Huey when he arrived.

 

Behind them, like... really far, they could hear Louie struggling to keep going.

 

“...wait... agh! ...for ME!”

 

Huey turned to look at the other two “Was it really necessary to ran like that? You could have slowed down and wait for us”

 

“Are you implying it’s my fault he is slow?” Exclaimed Dewey with fake incredulity.

 

He was going to answer but the last triplet arrived.

 

“...I ...hate... you... all” he said hands on his knees, gasping for air and Huey pating his back sympathetically.

 

“Anyway... you were saying?” said Dewey.

 

Louie was about to make an obscene gesture with his hand, but Huey stopped him in midair.

 

Webby kept narrating the story.

 

“A long, loooong time ago, there was one of the worst storms of all time in Duckburg!”

 

“July 1956, category five” interrupted Huey.

 

His brothers looked at him.

 

“What? It’s history...” 

 

“Keep going” said Huey ashamed after a long uncomfortable silence.

 

“Everybody knew about the upcoming storm, but one man refuse to leave his boat. He thought he could conquer the ocean-”

 

“What an idiot” said Louie.

 

“Everyone knows the first thing to do during a hurricane is go to a refuge” retorted Huey.

 

Dewey added “Let me guess, his boat sank and thought the cave could be a good shelter and drowned”

 

“Well, yeah... that’s the story. But!” she piped rising a finger “Since then, weird things began to happen”

 

“Ohhh! Weird like what?”

 

Obviously Dewey was the only one excited about that.

 

“People say they can hear his wails whenever they approach the cave, others have seen him as a terrifying figure haunting the beach!”

 

“That could be an unidentified creature” said Huey rather interested.

 

“Or the cursed spirit of the man waiting for his replacement!” Said Webby “I assure you that place is haunted! No one dares to enter the cave, or even be near it!”

 

The kids walked towards the beach.

 

“Behold...!” Announced Webby rising her hands “The cave of the drowned!”

 

“Cool! Beach party!”

 

“What?!”

 

Dewey was right, much to her dismay, near the cave were a group of teens enjoying themselves,dancing, swimming or just relaxing... they even had their own food stand!

 

Huey had to stop his brothers before they tried to join the group.

 

“Wait, we don’t know if they have permission to be here. What if they are invading private property?”

 

Dewey rolled his eyes.Louie on the other hand spotted a young woman and yelled her name.

 

“Hey! Janey!” The girl turned towards them.

 

“Louie!” she greeted him and walked to them.

 

“You know her?” Asked Dewey impressed.

 

“Of course! She works at Funso’s Fun Zone”

 

The kids immediately recognized the girl, she looked different without her uniform.

 

Louie as usual started the conversation with a compliment.

 

“My dear Janey, you look outstanding tonight!”

 

The girl laughed while Dewey rolled his eyes and kept a deadpanned expression.

 

“What are you doing here guys? It’s kinda late for you to be outside”

 

Oh no...

 

Webby was about to answer truthfully but Louie covered her beak with his hand and continued talking acting calm.

 

“Well... our uncle is on a special date near here”

 

“Oh my gosh! Really?” Asked the girl excited, she always thought of Donald as... lonely. “Good for him!”

 

“Thank you” continued the one in green “You see... he couldn’t find a babysitter on time, so he brought us here with him. But since we wanted to give him some space he let us go out for a while”

 

Janey narrowed her eyes unconvinced.

 

“Here...” said Louie dialing a number “You can talk to him”

 

The others held their breath.

 

What the...?

 

“Ok, I believe you” said Janey without receiving the smartphone, Louie shrugged. “Well, I think you can stay...”

 

Dewey felt his beak hit the sand.

 

What they didn’t know was that she avoided talking to their uncle out of shame because she could never understand what he was saying ... and Louie knew it.

 

A blond haired boy arrived with them. “Hey Janey, who are your friends?”

 

“Hi Bob!” Louie greeted him.

 

“Dude! I didn’t recognize you! It’s great to see you here!” and fist bumped him as if they were old friends. The other children gaped at him.

 

“What are you doing standing there? Join the party!” and went with the others “Come on Janey!”

 

“Okay!" replied the girl, before leaving she turned to the children “Well… have fun, we brought ice cream!” And followed Bob.

 

Louie started to walk but stopped when he felt the glance of his brothers on him.

 

“What?”

 

“How did you do that?”

 

“Who did you call?”

 

“That was awesome!”

 

The youngest smiled smugly “Oh… Thanks to my skills, Launchpad and thank you!”

 

The astonished looks continued.

 

“Hey, come on! We didn’t get here to do nothing. Let's celebrate!”

 

“But what about the cave?” asked Webby.

 

Dewey and Louie looked at each other before shouting “Dibs on the ice cream!” and ran to the food stand.

 

“Oh…"

 

Huey put a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Maybe we can explore it another day... when uncle Scroogelet us out”

 

Her sadness was short lived as some teens started playing limbo.

 

“AHHH! MY TURN!” she screamed running after them.

 

For his part Huey went to where his brothers were, he was surprised to see them receiving a huge bowl of ice cream.

 

“Where did they get the money to pay for that?” he asked alarmed.

 

“Huey... chill, it’s on the house. Right John?” said Louie.

 

“Of course, little dude” answered the boy who was serving the desserts.

 

Huey looked at him, stupefied. It was amazing what Louie was capable of doing with his social skills, something he lacked.

 

The one in green invited him to sit next to them while John served another bowl of ice cream before going to his friends.Huey accepted the bowl.

 

“I’m impressed” said Huey. “I guess you’ve been doing this for a while”

 

“What? Making friends? Of course! It’s easy!” Answered Louie while eating his ice cream.

 

But the oldest wasn’t sure if these teens were his brother’s friends or he was using them as usual to obtain something. Sometimes he wondered if Louie knew the difference.

 

“Webby! Webby! Webby!” a some girls were chanting her name. The triplets turned on their seats with curiosity, their honorary sister was playing limbo doing incredible maneuvers that made her almost reach the floor without falling.

 

Louie left his place and ran towards her with cell phone in hand to record her.

 

“Yes!” the girl shouted jumping after having passed under the pole. Everyone applauded her.

 

Dewey, as always, didn’t want to be left in the shadow of others, so wanting to show off he got up from his seat rolling up his sleeves.

 

"They think that’s awesome?”

 

Huey frowned crossing his arms.

 

“Well… ok, it is. But wait until I-” he never finished his sentence.

 

Huey turned to see his brother when he heard him gasp, he was staring at a point away from the bustle of the teenagers ... to the lonely cave that was several meters away being illuminated by the light of the moon.

 

“Dewey?” worried Huey.

 

“Are you-? Hey wait!”

 

But the duckling did not hear him, with a look of determination he ran to the cave, his brother followed him and nobody saw them leave.

 

Huey ran after Dewey. He didn’t know what was happening, why he was running… but as the responsible brother if he couldn’t stop him from doing something stupid he had to follow him. Dewey could be very impulsive ... like now, he had to make sure nothing bad happened to him.

 

As always he was easily left behind, he tried to call him again, but Dewey didn’t stop until they reached the entrance breathing heavily.

 

“Dewey!”

 

The aforementioned turned to him “I saw something!” he effused, but there was a glint of fear and worry in his eyes.

 

“Something like what?”

 

“Uh… l-like, I don’t know!” Dewey stuttered “It looked like a person, that thing was looking right at me and floated into the cave!”

 

“Maybe it was the ghost Webby told us about” reasoned Huey trying to see without entering the cave.

 

Dewey looked inside as well. “I think I’ve seen it before…” he mumbled.

 

A gust of cold wind passed between them as if the cave were calling them.

 

His eyes glistened with anticipation.

 

Oh no… Huey knew that look.

 

“Don’t-“ he warned Dewey but he ignored him and took out his cell phone turning on his flashlight.

 

“No, no, no, no!” blurted Huey running in front of his brother to stop him. “We don’t know what’s inside, the tide could rise at any time, we don’t know how big the cave is, we could get lost!”

 

“Uh… hm…uhu…” said Dewey with a hand under his beak and squinting his eyes.

 

He wasn’t listening.

 

“I’m being serious!” exclaimed Huey “We definitely should not go inside. It’s too dangerous!”

 

Dewey stepped to his side to keep moving forward without Huey getting in his way.

 

“You cannot write adventure without danger” he kept walking.

 

“You know that’s incorrect!” shrilled Huey, he was getting anxious.

 

He had a really bad feeling.

 

“Come on! it will be just five minutes!”

 

Huey groaned rolling his eyes and followed him.

 

…And as he predicted it had already been more than five minutes.

 

The cave was wide, it must be two meters long with enough space for the two children to walk together. Even if they illuminated the walls with Dewey’scell phone, it appeared to be not enough, the darkness surrounded them and it seemed to be entering a much larger place than it really was.

 

“I’m really sure I saw something!”

 

“So what? We’re breaking at least 7 Junior Woodchuck rules by doing this”

 

“I just want to make sure it’s not something dangerous”

 

“Don’t lie to me, I know you are doing this just bec-“ they heard a whistling sound that made them stop on their tracks.

 

Oh no...

 

“Dewey, we definitely should not be here” Huey said almost in a whisper. “We have to get out now!”

 

He did not want to speak out loud, he couldn’t hear the sound again but he was afraid of being able to alert any other creature that were inside.

 

“No, I can’t”

 

“Why not?!”

 

“Because it reminded me of-” Instantly the light on his phone began to flicker.

 

“What the…?”he hit his phone several times, hoping to make it work. But the light went out and his phone died.

 

They were left in complete darkness ... and they could feel someone watching them.

 

“Huey?” gulped Dewey with fear in his voice but he felt the hand of his brother on his arm.

 

“Hold onto my shirt” Huey instructed him and he obeyed.

 

With agitated breathing and trembling hands he looked for the flashlight that he kept next to his guidebook and lit it.

 

Dewey was clinging to him, looking everywhere. They felt how the temperature went down several degrees and from their beaks they began to exhale fog.

 

“I’m starting to think it was a really bad idea to come here…" the younger whispered.

 

Huey swallowed hard. "We have to go back ..."

 

He felt his body tremble, there was something inside the cave, something evil.., Huey agreed that it had been a terrible idea to enter, and even worse, without telling anyone.

 

“What …" He had barely made a few steps when out of nowhere a purple energy-wrapped vine clung to Dewey's leg and pulled him hard into the depths of the cave.

 

“¡DEWEY!”

 

Huey ran after him as fast as he could, he could hear his brother's desperate cries but could not see him.

 

His heart felt in his throat and every step he took seemed eternal.

 

“DEWEY! “ In the middle of his pursuit he did not see the rock with which he stumbled and made him fall and roll on the ground.

 

The fall had hurt ... a lot, he was disoriented, and probably would have stayed there if he had not heard his brother's cries.

 

“HELP!”

 

With difficulty he stood up, spat the sand that had entered his mouth and took the flashlight that had fallen to his side.

 

And then Huey finally he saw him, behind a large rock on the floor covering his face with his arms was his brother and in front of him a huge shapeless creature with bright red eyes.

 

The attack was imminent. Quickly he took the only thing he had at hand and forcefully threw his guidebook against the face of the beast.

 

The book went through the creature that disintegrated as if it were made of smoke and energy.

 

The claws that pinned Dewey to the floor disappeared.

Huey with force that he didn’t know he had raised Dewey on his feet.

 

“RUN!”

 

He did not need to be told twice, Dewey held his brother's arm and ran to where the exit should be.

 

They ran with all their might, they could see the entrance in the distance that gave them more momentum to continue, but in the blink of an eye the beast had appeared before them blocking their path.

 

With agility the beast launched against them but the kids managed to dodge it jumping in different directions. It was when Huey discovered that creature was after Dewey.

 

From its claws the beast formed rays of energy that began firing at his brother.

Dewey ran zigzagging avoiding the attacks by a hair.

 

Huey looked around desperately, found a moldy branch in the sand and without thinking he threw himself at the beast that had cornered his brother.

 

He waved the branch hard and again the creature disintegrated. That gave them enough time to run.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

They were close to the exit. They could hear the waves of the sea and the bustle of the party in the distance.

 

“Keep running!”

 

But the beast let out a loud roar, Huey turned around at the time the creature was launching a last and powerful attack on his brother.

 

“¡DEWEY!”

 

The duckling felt a blow against his body. He lost his balance and rolled out onto the sand. He looked up disoriented ... there was no sign of the beast but of his older brother lying on the floor.

 

“…No..."


	5. Chapter 5

He still had the flash of the last attack in his eyes, and there was still the echo of the creature's last cry. After that everything was in a sepulchral silence, for his fortune there was no trace of the creature, it had disappeared in an instant.

 

Dewey felt like an eternity has passed, he could not move, he knew he had to get up, call for help, do something! But fear had him frozen and stunned, he could not take his eyes off his brother. He expected him to move, to wake up. They had come out of worse situations, Huey was fine, he was fine, he-he …

 

I was completely motionless.

 

Too still…

 

“Huey? "He whimpered, tentatively the blue one raised his weight on his arms calling him again but his brother did not respond.

 

Oh no…

 

Something woke inside him and in an instant, as if he had received a shock, his paralyzed body moved. Holding a moan, he got up without taking his eyes off Huey and ran towards him.

 

He fell to his knees beside him, raised a hand to turn his body but stopped in his tracks gasping ... when he saw the frame of his motionless chest. Fearing the worst, Dewey turned him on his back, his head was lolled to his side, and his face was limp and expressionless …

 

"H-Huey ... Huey!" His voice quavered, he tried to shake him by the shoulder, pat him on the cheek, but he didn’t wake up.

 

He didn’t wake up.

 

He placed his head on his sand-covered chest, trying to feel a movement or hear a heartbeat but all he could hear was his own blood rushing through his ears.

 

"Oh no ... no-no-no-no! NO! “ he could feel the tears sliding down his cheeks, his breathing becoming faster and erratic. Dewey was panicking.

 

What should they do in these cases? He couldn’t even remember what his uncle Donald had told them. Huey was the one who always responded, heck! Even he had given them several first aid classes, but he and Louie had never listened, with one class was more than enough. Now he regretted it because he didn’t remember anything that could help him.

 

And what could be useful at the moment?! They had never faced something like this!

 

"Huey!" He yelled holding on to his shirt "Wake up, please WAKE UP!" It was a plea.

 

Huey was the oldest, the one in charge, the one who always had an answer for everything. The one that would have found a solution if the roles were reversed. He didn’t know what to do and it was something that even in his worst nightmares he did not think he would have to face.

 

He felt tired and light ... how strange, it was as if his body floated in space. Although a very deep part of his being told him that wasn’t normal, he was too calm to really notice. The darkness surrounded him but it was not like other occasions when it warmly embraced him and invited him to continue sleeping in his soft blankets ... no, this time it was different, the cold flooded his being and he felt how his energy and heat escaped from his body and he could not do anything to avoid it ... not even resist it, and ... Why he should do it? ... why he should reject the darkness? ... He just had to accept it …and let go…

 

He would have remained in that eternal ethereal state if he hadn’t felt a change, that little pull and then a sense of falling.

 

Instantly he had the urgent need to breathe, but his chest felt heavy, correction: his whole body seemed to be made of concrete, and his exhaustion was such that even the simple task of inhaling was almost inhuman that required too much effort.

 

The sensation returned to his body and- heck! That hurt ... not only the feeling of an impact on his chest but a coldness that penetrated to the bone and dispersed throughout his body, making him tremble and his beak shiver.

 

Dewey knew they needed help, with clumsy hands he pulled out his cell phone to call his brother, but inadvertently dropped it when he heard a loud inhale.

 

“Huey?”

 

He had moved, he was frowning and coughing slightly.

 

"Huey!" Relieved Dewey held him in his arms waiting for him to wake up.

 

For his part, the older would have wanted to continue sleeping and ignore the pain, but a noise prevented him to do it ... no… it was a voice that incessantly called him.

 

Releasing a moan he tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids wouldn’t cooperate, it was like they were stuck by an invisible force, the dark wanted to claim it again but that voice was still talking very close to him, which dragged him away from his lethargic dream. With much effort and difficulty he opened his eyes.

 

It didn’t make sense what he heard, it was like being submerged under water. He narrowed his eyes trying to clear his vision without much success and had to blink several times to clear his eyes and when he did Dewey's face was in front of him.

 

“Huey! Huey can you hear me!?”

 

He was confused, why was Dewey crying on his bunk?

 

With a more lucid mind he saw his surroundings and noticed that they were not even inside the manor, much less in their bedroom.

 

"Dewey ...?" he slurred with a pained expression, his tongue seemed to be stuck to his palate with an unpleasant feeling of sand inside his beak.

 

The one in blue wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

 

“...You woke up..." he said with relief, lifted him by the shoulders with his arm and hugged him tightly pretending not to cry on his shoulder. Huey felt so out of it that he could not even give him a comforting pat on his back, he stayed there motionless and lethargic trying to process what was happening.

 

“Are you ... okay?" He asked with difficulty.

 

Why was he crying? Was he hurt? Dewey almost never cried.

 

The duckling finished the hug abruptly but without dropping him.

 

"I'm the one who should ask you that!" he said, still with tears in his eyes. "You scared me! I thought you… you were…” but he looked away for a second without having the courage to finish his sentence.

 

“Don’t you dare to scare me like that ever again!” And hit him on the forehead with his index finger.

 

Huey closed his eyes tired without having enough energy to return the gesture.

 

Ignoring the obvious annoyance that was his brother Huey frowned, something was amiss ... and in an instant he remembered everything that had happened.

 

"Where's the creature?" he have gasped sharply with apprehension.

 

“N-no… I don’t know, I think it disappeared”

 

It was imperative to leave that place, they could not stay there forever. Trying to get up, he put his weight on his elbows but at the moment of exerting a sensation of coldness went through his chest and instinctively brought his hands to his heart, he would have fallen back into the sand if Dewey weren’t holding him.

 

“What’s wrong?! Are you hurt?!”

 

Huey squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

 

“Cold…” was the only thing he said between clenched teeth.

 

Dewey swallowed hard, looked with fear around the huge cave, the little light that entered could illuminate them with a gloomy glow, but farther behind them there were only shadows that hid the true and enormous dimension of the place ... and in the middle of the darkness he could swear something was looking back at him.

 

“Come on, we have to get out of here” said the triplet in blue, it was probably paranoia and fear that made him see a pair of eyes in the dark.

 

Without losing more time and with the haste to flee he put his phone inside his shirt, and placed his hands under Huey’s back and legs.

 

“What are you doing? "He asked incredulously, still kinda unaware of what was going on.

 

"I saw this in a movie" and gathering all his strength he managed to lift his brother off the ground.

 

Two inches and only for a few seconds.

 

Hissing due to the effort he couldn’t manage the weight anymore and put his brother back in the sand.

 

“I can ... walk" Huey said but the other ignored him.

 

Agitated, he took several puffs of air.

 

"Very well… I can do this, I can do this” he was Dewey Duck! He could definitely do this!.

 

Filling his lungs with air he held the weight of his brother again.

 

He was going to do it!

 

Just a little more!

 

Almost there!

 

But no matter how hard he tried, he only managed to make grunts of effort, sweat and probably sprained a knee or something…

 

Huey slipped out of his grasp pushing him with his arm, caught off guard Dewey fell on his butt.

 

"We have… to” he said with a pained expression but could not finish the sentence.

 

“That’s what I was trying to do” said Dewey, standing up.

 

With sluggish movements Huey tried to stand up just like Dewey did, but apparently it was a bad idea, a wave of dizziness hit him making him feel nauseous and the moment he tried to take a step his knees buckled but his brother reacted quickly.

 

"Woah! Easy!” exclaimed the moment he had caught him.

 

"I don’t feel so good..." admitted the oldest, black spots filled his vision and his knotted stomach made him salivate, he was going to be sick.

 

Dewey held him by the torso and hung Huey’s arm between his shoulders dragging him through the sand.

 

“Not what I had in mind but I think this works” he  panted as they advanced to the exit.

 

Tentatively he looked at Huey who, with a frown and unfocused eyes, made a great effort to move forward without tripping.

 

“What's that?" Asked Dewey when a noise caught his attention, the older duckling looked towards the entrance and knew it was the waves of the sea that collided with the rocks that formed the entrance.

 

"The tide ..."

 

Dewey was beyond worried, his brother was eloquent, he did not leave his words or ideas half-formed, now he seemed to struggle to create a congruent thought.

 

“Don’t worry I’ve got you”

 

The two advanced without entering the water.

 

“I know I’m going to sound like you, but… Do you think it's safe?" He asked trying to make him react.

 

Huey looked with half-lidded eyes at the water and then back, the answer was clear when he tried to advance on his own, but Dewey didn’t let go.

 

“Alright, alright…, I get it"

 

The moonlight illuminated them as soon as they left, they entered the sea and the tide covered them to the waist and dragged them with such force that Dewey had to make a great effort to not be carried away by the waves holding tightly to his brother who barely moved.

 

“We’re almost there” he grunted.

 

With heavy gait they surrounded the entrance to avoid the area filled with rocks that had been covered under the water, and pushing against the waves they went out to the beach.

 

Tired and with the adrenaline leaving his system Dewey fell on his knees, Huey followed him and ended up leaning against his side, if Dewey had let go he was sure that his brother would have dropped dead like a puppet without strings on the sand.

 

"You ok?" He asked as he felt his head pressed against his chest. Huey didn’t answer.

 

"Oh no ..." He fretted and with his free hand he pulled out his phone and called the only person who always responded quickly.

 

"Dewey where are you? You guys are missing the fun-“

 

"Louie! Louie, we need help, we're outside the cave!” he interrupted him.

 

“Wait what!?… What happened?!”

 

“A creature attacked us, and something is wrong with Huey, i-I don’t know, he’s not waking up. Come quickly! "He hung up without waiting for an answer, dropped Huey's arm and kneeled in front of his brother while holding him by the shoulders.

 

"Hey no! You were awake, you can’t go back to sleep! "His brother opened his eyes again slowly, but his eyesight was going through Dewey as if he weren’t in front of him.

 

“Well… y-you always said we shouldn’t sleep after a con… _concursion_ … or whatever, right?" Dewey said with a forced smile. Huey was still staring without speaking, blinking slowly. "I suppose it also applies if you're hit by a bolt of energy, right?" He had to keep him awake.

 

Help was about to arrive.

 

"Dewey!"

 

He heard a shout in the distance, and two colors ... no, figures approached him, but Huey could not distinguish them.

 

"Are you alright!?” Louie whimpered, kneeling beside his brothers.

 

“I- I don’t know what’s wrong with him!” exclaimed Dewey.

 

Scared Louie inspected his older brother quickly and called him shaking him by the shoulders.

 

"Huey ... Huey!" But he still didn’t answer.

 

"Out of my way!" Webby interjected, who with authority pushed the other two aside and stood in front of Huey. She took out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight, Huey and barely reacted when the light passed before his eyes.

 

“Did he hit his head?" Webby asked turning to Dewey, Louie was fidgeting with his sleeves looking at them worriedly.

 

"N-No, I do not think so!"

 

“Then why is acting like that?!” gluped the youngest.

 

Webby asked again "What happened?”

 

And the commotion arose. But Huey could not hear them, he knew they were in front of him, but an invisible force kept calling him, drawing him back into the darkness... his eyelids closed, but this time he did not give in.

 

_You_ _certainly_ _are_ _a_ _fighter_ …

 

Said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere.

 

_Well_ … _it’s_ _time_ _for_ _you to wake up…_

And inhaling sharply he opened his eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

When he came to his senses it was like awakening from a nightmare, with his heart beating a thousand miles per hour and a feeling of dread that made his stomach knot.

 

He blinked several times to clear his vision as he controlled his erratic breathing. He was confused and didn’t know where he was. And as always his brain began to work searching for answers.

 

He was sitting on the ground- no ...the sand, and there wasn’t much light around, then it was night.

 

What the heck was he doing on the beach?

 

…and apparently he wasn’t alone ...

 

"... what do we do now?!" Exclaimed Dewey, who had his back to him.

 

His siblings were in front of him.

 

"Ambulance!"

 

"I think Janey brought her parents' car, I could ask her-!”

 

That caught his attention and he got up immediately, someone was hurt.

 

The movement attracted the view of the others towards him, Dewey turned and the moment Huey saw his disheveled state immediately recalled and for the second time that night almost everything that had happened.

 

"Huey!" Exclaimed Dewey and Louie but before they could throw themselves at him in a hug Webby stopped them with exceptional strength.

 

“Wait! He could be possessed! "

 

"What?! Why would I be possessed?!” He said putting his hands in his hips in a very characteristic gesture of him.

 

"Well, he might not be possessed!” Webby released the brothers who warmly embraced the older one.

 

"Are you ok ?!"

 

"What happened?"

 

“How do you feel?”

 

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

 

"Why are you asking me all that? I'm fine!” Then he looked at Dewey and grabbed him from his face to look for injuries in his head that could be dangerous.

 

"I knew it! It hurt you! That's why you needed the ambulance! "He was panicking. "That thing didn’t follow us right?” But he did not allow him to respond when he addressed Louie "How did you get here?”

 

Then he corrected the question, getting more and more anxious “Wait.. How did we get here?"

 

“I-literally-dragged-you-here" he said between clenched cheeks before escaping his brother’s grip. "And it didn’t follow us, it just disappeared"

 

“What…?” he didn’t remember that.

 

“Are you alright? Do you need to sit down? "Louie asked but when he felt his hand on his shoulder he knew that the question was not addressed to Dewey.

 

"How are you feeling?" He listened to Webby and again the question was for him.

 

In fact everyone looked at him with different degrees of alarm and concern.

 

"I feel perfectly fine" replied somewhat annoyed.

 

"Are you sure… like really really sure?” Louie asked with restrained voice, fidgeting and looking at him worriedly"Because a few minutes ago you weren’t” his voice wavered.

 

Louie's eyes shone brightly, he wanted to control himself but he couldn’t, after listening to Dewey's desperate call and seeing his brothers in that state he knew something had gone terribly wrong.

 

“Huey, we wanted to call an ambulance for you” explained Webby “We don’t know what happened but…”

 

“What’s the last thing you remember?” interrupted Dewey.

 

“I… I’m not sure, we were inside the cave?” Huey hesitated.

 

"What were you doing in there?!" Louie demanded at his immediate older brother suspecting that he was the cause of everything.

 

Dewey flinched, Louie was giving him an icy glance, Webby had her arms crossed and was waiting for an explanation while Huey looked confused.

 

“I… uh…” he sighed “ I saw something outside the cave and ... I wanted to find out what it was, Huey followed me" said Dewey distressed.

 

“Why did you do something so stupid!? I was kidding about wanting to be the only heir!" squeaked Louie.

 

“Aww come on, don’t cry!” To say that he felt guilty was a statement, but knowing that he had made his little brother cry made him feel even worse.

 

“How do you want me not to cry?! One moment I'm enjoying a party and the next one I ... I find you like this!” He exclaimed pointing at them with his hands.

 

His mater-fraternal older brother instinct was activated, Huey stepped between them and hugged the youngest one trying to comfort him ... it was a technique that always worked.

 

“You saw the ghost?!” barked Webby.

 

“It was more like a unidentified creature… not exactly a ghost” replied Huey while letting go of his reluctant brother “Also I didn’t follow you, I tried to stop you… Anyway, it's something I've never seen before” he had to document it but when but when he reached for his beloved guide he discovered that he wasn’t even wearing his cap.

 

“Oh no! Where is it?!” He shouted turning around looking at the sand around him in case his guidebook had fallen.

 

“Uh…” intervened Dewey “You threw your guidebook to help me when that thing attacked me”

 

Louie grabbed him by his arm turning him around “The ghost attacked you too?! It thought Huey was the only one hurt!”

 

Dewey shrugged “It didn’t attacked me, well… it tried and kinda dragged me around and then the thing started to shoot something like energy beams…” he trailed off when he saw the looks of horror Louie and Webby were giving him.

 

“But I thought it shot you!” murmured Huey frowning.

 

“What?!” shrieked Louie.

 

“It almost got me…” admitted Dewey “You pushed me out of the way, it hit you instead of me”

 

Oh…

 

Unconsciously he brought his hand to his chest and that feeling of emptiness intensified.

 

Huey frowned confused for a moment but suddenly the memories returned to his mind, those last moments of terror in which he acted without thinking with the only goal of saving Dewey: the attack, taking him out of the way and receiving the impact, an indescribable pain and darkness.

 

Louie looked at him, his beak hanging open.

 

”What kind of ghost does that?!” he chided.

 

“Ghosts do not throw energy beams! I'm calling Granny!”

 

“But I feel fine!” argued Huey.

 

“Do you think I’m stupid?!We all saw you! You are clearly not fine!” accused the youngest one.

 

“What are you talking about?!” Huey threw his hands in the air.

 

“You were unconscious but when you woke up you weren’t quite completely awake? I don’t know… you were zoned out… like a zombie!” said Dewey gesturing with his hands.

 

“…more like catatonic!” corrected Webby.

 

“And Dewey was crying!” Added Louie.

 

“That’s not true!”

 

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?” asked Webby.

 

Huey shrugged “I don’t think so…? I mean it could explain the symptomatology but…”

 

“Then we should go to the hospital, just to be sure you and Dewey are okay… ” cautioned Webby.

 

Huey thought about it “Well… I guess you are right” It was the most logical thing to do, a good junior woodchuck always made sure that he and his team did not get hurt during an adventure.

 

“I’m calling uncle Scrooge” announced Dewey bringing his cell phone out.

 

“We are so doomed” lamented Louie, but that didn’t hide the relief in his voice.

 

**_...NO!..._ **

 

That thought hit him like a ton o bricks leaving him breathless.

 

Everyone was looking at him, he had a hand raised and the other one holding his chest. Apparently he had voiced that thought.

 

“What?” Dewey sounded surprised, his brother looked completely terrified, his eyes were wide and his hands trembled slightly. “…Huey?” he fretted.

 

“We cannot call him” he gulped.

 

“What?! Why not?” exclaimed Louie.

 

_…you know why…_

 

How he hadn’t thought about that?! He was a fool!. His uncle couldn’t find out about what had happened, no one could. Not only would they be in trouble, it would be a total disaster! The kind of disaster that would torn his family apart. His uncles were already in bad terms and something like this could bring terrible consequences, he didn’t want to be the cause of another great family dispute.

 

“It’s unnecessary” he sputtered while running his hands trough his feathers completely distressed “I-I mean, Dewey is unharmed and I’m sure I look worse than I am!” a nervous laughter escaped his beak.

 

They all looked at him with concern.

 

“He’s lost it…”mumbled Louie.

 

Webby tried to reason with him “Huey this is serious…”

 

“It's not the first time these things have happened to us, I'm perfectly fine! "Although he tried to sound relaxed and calm, his response was weak and unconvincing. “You guys are just being paranoid!”

 

His siblings gasped.

 

“What the heck, Huey!” chastised Dewey “How can you say something like that?”

 

He was the only one who has talked, Louie and Webby were just looking at the oldest on in shock.

 

“It’s true!”

 

“I can’t believe I’m sounding like you! You are not thinking straight!”

 

Huey puffed “I have told you multiple times I am fine!”

 

"Stop lying!" Dewey shouted at him, pushing him "You weren’t fine five minutes ago!”

 

"I told you I’M FINE NOW!" He shouted, raising his voice several octaves, and pushed Dewey harder knocking him to the ground.

 

“Stop fighting!” cried Louie as Webby tried to help the one in blue, but Dewey grunted and got up on his own enraged.

 

Dewey walked to him in a threatening way, but Huey did not even flinch.

 

“Are you stupid or what?!” exclaimed Dewey “What are you trying to prove?!”

 

“Wh… What?!” scoffed Huey “I’m not trying to prove anything!”

 

"We have to call uncle Donald and uncle Scrooge!" demanded Dewey in front of him.

 

“No!”

 

“Stop it!" exclaimed Webby, standing between the brothers.

 

“You were not even breathing!”

 

“He what?!” shrilled Louie and everyone went silent.

 

Huey was taken aback, Webby looked just as frighten as Louie and Dewey wished he hadn’t said a word.

 

The oldest triplet sighed while looking for an explanation, then crossed his arms "That is not possible" he huffed.

 

Dewey was about to answer, but Huey interrupted him "It wouldn’t be the first time you're wrong about something like this”

 

Dewey narrowed his eyes, he knew Huey was talking about the time when he believed their uncle Donald had died when he had actually collapsed on the table from exhaustion.

 

“Oh shut up!”

 

“No, you shut up!”

 

"Huey, what's going on?! Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?” Webby interjected. ”You're the one who's always saying that health and safety are the most important thing, or something like that”

 

"Do you know what Uncle Scrooge will do if he finds out we were outside the manor?”

 

The others remained silent.

 

“You saw what happened this morning! And just because we were playing!”

 

Webby crossed her arms in disbelief. “Oh please! Do you think he’ll kick you out of the manor if he finds out what we did?”

 

"Yes," Huey answered without hesitation and with such certainty that it baffled everyone present.

 

"He wouldn’t do that!" Louie defended him “…right?” He added with less confidence.

 

“Of course not!” Webby said.

 

_…Yes he would…_

 

He could not allow that, not when they had a hospital debt from when Louie was sick a month ago; not when Uncle Donald still could not find work to cover the most basic expenses, much less now that he could not even go out for a job interview; not when the problems between them were so obvious. If his uncle wanted he could disappear again for another ten years and Uncle Scrooge would not even try to find them.

 

just like the last time when they left the manor and he didn’t tried to stop them.

 

_…He doesn’t care about you…_

 

Huey sighed exhausted and hurt by the idea.

 

“I don’t care! I’m calling them!" Dewey took out his cell phone and started searching among his contacts.

 

An irascibility seized the eldest, he could not think clearly, his blood reached his ears deafening him and his sight as a tunnel was fixed on his brother. With a quick step, he cut the distance between them in such a threatening attitude that Dewey took a few steps back but Huey was faster. He snatched the phone from his hand and with the other one held Dewey by the collar of his shirt.

 

"What the h-!" But Huey interrupted him staring him in the eye.

 

"Listen to me" he growled in a serious and threatening voice "We are not going to say a word of this to anyone, is that clear?”

 

Dewey didn’t answer, his face was inches away from his and in his eyes Huey could see surprise and fear. It was then when Huey realized what he had done, he let go of his brother the instant his anger had disappeared leaving only regret and confusion.

 

What the hell indeed…

 

The one in blue took a few steps back and adjusted his shirt absently.

 

"Fine!" He shouted angrily picking up his phone "See if I care!" And he turned his back walking away from everyone.

 

Huey felt the glance of the other two.

 

"I ... I'm sorry, I didn’t..."

 

He had to order his thoughts and control himself, but he could not form complete or coherent sentences, he was ashamed.

 

The moment he looked up he wished he hadn’t done it, his baby brother looked at him frightened, Webby’s expression was unreadable.

 

Huey shuddered “Can we just go home, please?”

 

“Alright…” she answered.

 

The ducklings walked towards the group of students, they could hear their screams and laughter, but for Huey they were like a distant echo, he could not avoid looking back, where the cave seemed to observe him with mockery.

 

Dewey saw them arrive, crossed his arms and didn’t say a word. Huey wanted to apologize but he knew that if he did it at the moment his brother would not listen to him.

 

“A cab will take us home…” said Louie with his phone in his hands.

 

"A cab? But how are we going to pay? "Webby asked and then her face lit up. “Oh I know! With compliments and flattering!”

 

"Of course not" he scoffed "With money"

 

"We don’t have money and if Uncle Scrooge discovers that you took his credit card again-" Huey said anxiously but Louie interrupted him rolling his eyes.

 

"Oh please, I'm not using uncle Scrooge’s card, it's Launchpad’s"

 

Dewey gaped in utter shock and Huey closed his eyes in disbelieve, he couldn’t wait to get home.


	7. Chapter 7

“Come on” said Louie rolling his eyes “He won’t even notice”

 

Dewey crossed his arms "We can walk back”

 

Louie snorted “Yeah sure, you can barely stand on your feet”

 

Dewey and Huey looked at each other, although the one in blue looked away crossing his arms still annoyed the older one could notice that his brother's appearance was not good and he probably didn’t look any better. They were exhausted and probably they wouldn’t make it to the manor.

 

“Fineeee…” complained Dewey “But I want you to know that I do NOT agree with this."

 

“Like I care” Louie glared at him and turned his back without saying another word.

 

Their transport arrived after a few minutes, Webby took the front to give directions and the triplets settled into the backseat. It was quite strange that four children were on the street in the middle of the night, but the driver who was around his late thirties probably had seen worst since he didn’t seem to mind their presence and continued with his work without asking more questions than necessary.

 

Huey knew that things weren’t right, by far... He was sitting between his brothers, on one side was Louie who was looking at the streets of the city through the window in a disinterested way,he was frowning and it was obvious that he was upset with this whole situation, so he took out his phone to distract himself.For his part and with little discretion Dewey, who was sitting almost against the door had his arms crossed and his back turned on them, he was avoiding him and Huey couldn’t blame him.

 

Huey, regretted what had happened. He tried to apologize to his brother, but as soon as he put his hand on his shoulder Dewey flinched and tried to move further away.

 

Feeling rejected, Huey drew back his hand with a sigh.

 

“Uh…” he whispered uncertain “I’m sorry… about what happened back there”

 

He did not know what had made him to act that way and he was deeply sorry, and although he wanted to say that and more his eloquence had gone out of the window.

 

Dewey didn’t answered, and Huey already expected it, discouraged he leaned against the seat Louie looked at him out of the corner of his eye for a moment before going back to his phone screen.

 

He was hungry, cold and so tired…

 

“Thanks!” his slow respiration hitched as a shudder went through his body, and opened his eyes without knowing when he had closed them, and to his surprise they had already arrived at the manor.

Webby, who apparently had thanked the driver for the trip, had already gotten out of the car. His brothers were leaving their seats and to prevent Dewey from closing the door in his face, he preferred to go down on the opposite side.

 

“You sure this is the place?” asked the tired-looking dog confused.

 

"Yes, it is my friend,” said Louie with a smooth voice, then he took a dollar out of his sweatshirt’s pocket “But, you didn’t see anything, okay?" He added with a wink.

 

The driver smiled as he unfolded the 20 dollar bill.

 

Louie's eyes widened and quickly pulled out of his pocket the dollar he had planned to give him "Wait! That wasn’t-!”

 

But the adult interrupted him “Of course, sir, thank you very much and have a good night!” and started driving before Louie could throw himself against the windshield.

 

“No! Come back here!”

 

It was useless trying to run after him, the car had already disappeared.

 

“That stupid little-!” Louie shouted into the air but Dewey closed his beak.

 

“Shhh! keep it down! Ugh!” exclaimed Dewey and yanked his hand back when he felt spit on it.

 

“Agh! You’re disgusting!”

 

Louie ignored him “Great! Do you know how much I had to work to get that money?”

 

“Not much?” Suggested the eldest stopping Dewey's wrist without even looking at him when he tried to wipe his hand on his red shirt.

 

"Exactly!" The younger squealed "This can’t get worse!”

 

Suddenly Huey felt a sharp pain on this chest that made him lean forward and clench his teeth. He felt that his brother had approached him holding his arm, but Dewey was distracted like the others looking at the sky. A huge lightning had lit the sky for an instant followed by a powerful thunder, then the heavy and cold rain began to fall.

 

"Well, that was scary…” tried to joke Dewey but it was obvious he was scared.

 

Huey tried to control his breathing… in and out… but he almost jumped when he heard a yell at his side. It was Louie who was apparently… completely furious.

 

“We better get going…” Webby tried to approach the youngest but he ignored her.

 

“This isn’t not fair!” he shouted, a tic appeared in his left eye“When we go out with Uncle Scrooge, I'm the one who always ends up in danger and now when everything was perfect at a party with ice cream and pretty girls everything goes wrong!”

 

Dewey pulled his arm “Come on! You can complain as much as you want when we get to the manor!” and he started running, Louie had no choice but to follow him, the rain had increased.

 

They crossed the fence by one of the strategic points that according to Webby couldn’t be detected by the security cameras. This time it was much easier thanks to their honorary sister and her grappling hook, and they didn’t have mishaps like when Louie had got stuck and couldn’t get down of the wall earlier that night.

 

Once on the other side they began to run towards the manor following the path of traps that had been activated during their descent, the pavement was perforated and with the rain the ground had become mud.

 

“Come on! We’re almost there!” Shouted Webby who was leading the way next to Dewey.

 

Behind them Louie was struggling to keep up while running in the mud and stumbling occasionally without falling. He kept growling "I hate this, I hate this!” with vehemence.

 

Huey ran as fast as he could, but his legs felt like lead and his breathing became labored within minutes, once he could not continue he rested his hands against his knees.

 

Why was it so hard to get enough air?

 

He looked up and the rain dripped down his face, his brothers were already far away trying to run away from the rain. Another lightning crossed the sky and his body swayed before hitting the floor with his knees and hands.

 

That was unexpected.

 

And alarming.

 

That wasn’t… that was definitely not normal!.

 

He should have gone to the hospital! He should have called his uncle Donald! He needed help!.

 

He felt tears sting his eyes, he was scared, he felt very cold and the pain in his chest had increased. What did it matter if they got caught? It wouldn’t be the first time!. Uncle Scrooge would be upset, that was obvious and there was the possibility that he would throw them out of the manor… that was also true, but for some reason when you really feel in danger everything else doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

 

He needed his Uncle Donald.

 

Huey was about to grab his cellphone when-

 

… _No_ …

 

-his hand stopped mid air, and his fear disappeared in an instant.

 

And just like that his crying stopped. Feeling numb he took a deep breath, got up and started walking without stopping.

 

Everything around him seemed to be in slow motion, the rain, his footsteps, the thunder that could be heard in the distance. It was mesmerizing and almost relaxing...

 

“Huey!” 

 

Startled, he raised his head towards the source of the sound, he was not sure how much time had passed and to be honest, he didn’t care.

 

Louie was in front of him alarmed, angry and completely soaked.

 

“Dude! Whats wrong with you? Why are you taking so long? Webby and Dewey are waiting for us, I thought you were with them, but NO!”He raised his arms emphasizing his words “And you weren’t even behind me either!"

 

Huey tilted his head slightly frowning.

 

“I thought you were dead or something!” he fretted.

 

“Sorry” he responded automatically. That was what one is supposed to answer in these situations, right?

 

Louie panted, his shoulders heaving, apparently he had run to get to him. He looked at him with concern waiting for his brother to say something else but Huey remained silent.

 

“Anyway, what’s taking you so long?” he asked again, he sounded more upset than angry.

 

Huey sighed “...I’m tired” and he answered with sincerity and more emotion than he had felt in the last ... what? minutes? hours?

 

“This… this was a bad idea” That feeling of lethargy was disappearing but he felt like his energy was dripping from his body and he couldn’t stop it.

 

Louie was looking at him with his beak clenched, but Huey couldn't read his expression. It was like he was studying him… trying to figure out what was wrong with him, but instantly he turned his gaze away.

 

Louie narrowed his eyes.

 

"Whatever" he mumbled.

 

Louie put one hand inside his sweatshirt pocket and with the he other took Huey's and started walking "Let's go, I'm getting tired of this rain”

 

Huey followed him, quietly trying to control his breathing. He felt that his progress was very slow and that reaching the manor was going to take an eternity. It was very different when Launchpad took them by car or plane, he never imagined that walking that whole stretch was so exhausting. When he felt that he could keep going anymore, Dewey and Webby appeared in front of them.

 

The rain had lessened, but even if it had not lasted long it had left them soaked. Webby arranged her ribbon to remove the feathers from her eyes, which was more complicated for Dewey who ran his hand over and over in front of his forehead.

 

“Don’t worry, it's safe around here”

 

“If you say s- Finally!” huffed the one in blue when he saw his brothers “Did you two got lost or something?”

 

“Are you alright?” asked Webby and although Dewey tried to hide it under a look of annoyance he seemed to be worried just like her.

 

“We’re fine!” Louie answered with a gesture of disinterest with his hand. “What’s the point of running if we’re already soaked?”

 

“What’s the point?” exclaimed Dewey "Arrive faster at the manor! Duh!"

 

Webby intervened "Easy guys, we're almost there" she was the only one who didn’t seem to care about their current situation and quickly and without warning took Louie from his waist, the boy squealed by the sudden contact but he couldn’t scape her grasp because Webby fired her grappling hook at the fence.

 

“Do I weigh anything to you?!” Exclaimed the youngest indignantly as Webby held all his weight with her arm.

 

"Nah!" Webby laughed "You weigh like a couple of grapes ... and you're green! HA!”

 

The girl left Louie on the other side, then jumped and with perfect balance fell on the opposite side with arms outstretched as if there was no water everywhere.

 

“That was so cool!” beamed Dewey.

 

“Well who’s next?”

 

Dewey raised his hand excitedly but instead of following Webby he took a few steps back and ran to the fence, tried to jump and as expected he collided with the wall, remained stuck on it a few seconds before falling back to the ground on a puddle.

 

“Not bad...” Louie mocked, peeking out from the metal fence.

 

“Shut it Llewelyn!” The other replied, but before he could get up, Webby grabbed his arm and fired her hook again and hurriedly threw Dewey to the other side, who fell on top of Louie.

 

"Come on Huey!" Webby ignored the fight of the other two and took his hand just as she had done with Dewey but released him immediately.

 

“Woah! You’re freezing!” her smile faltered.

 

“It’s to be expected with this rain” Huey replied apathetically.

 

Webby held him by his waist and he held on to her shoulders.

 

“Yeah, but are you sure you’re ok?”

 

Huey frowned, and for no reason he felt annoyed by that question.

 

_…That’s enough!…_

 

“I told you I’m fine!” he countered.

 

Her eyes widened for a second “Oh… okay, sorry” and tried to smile again.

 

When they reached the ground he let go of her as fast as he could and walked away with his fists clenched behind his brothers. Webby looked at him concerned before following them.

 

They were about to arrive and the irony was that it had almost stopped raining. It was pointless to run now. Webby was squeezing her vest while Louie did the same with his sweatshirt.

 

They reached the window of their room. They could not climb walls like Webby, so they would use the same strategy with the fence.

 

"Alright guys, come closer" whispered the girl and the triplets obeyed, they formed a circle as if they were planning a game.

 

"This is going to be very noisy now that everyone is asleep and we cannot risk waking up the others now that we got here… we will go up together”

 

“Together like… all of us? At the same time?” cringed Dewey.

 

“Yes”

 

"We're going to die, aren’t we?" Louie asked sarcastically and Dewey nudged him.

 

"Not if you hold tight!” the girl put on her night vision glasses and pointed with her grappling hook, with her left arm she held Huey by the waist and before she pulled the trigger the other two threw themselves at her.

 

Her shot was accurate and silent. Huey was the first to enter the room and helped his brothers who were clinging to Webby by pulling on their clothes. The three fell on a tangled mess. Webby jumped inside without problem.

 

“Get off me!”

 

“Stop kicking me!”

 

“Gosh you are so heavy- Whose hand was that?!”

 

Webby observed clearly with her glasses what was happening, she approached her friends and pulled Dewey aside to help them.

 

“Guys keep it down!”The girl scolded them, each one stood up and Louie took out his phone activating his flashlight.

 

Much better.

 

“Well, that wasn’t fun, let’s never do it again!” grinned Louie pointing his flashlight at Dewey's face, but Huey lowered his hand.

 

“Alright then…” sighed Webby “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow”

 

Dewey nodded “You know what to tell them if they tart to suspect something…”

 

“Goodnight, Webby” said Louie, Huey only waved his hand.

 

“Goodnight guys…” and she disappeared through the ventilation ducts.

 

Once she was gone Louie turned on the night lamp that was next to his bunk while Dewey silently searched through the drawers of their clothes. Huey dragged his feet and took the towels from the bathroom, Louie grabbedhis and threw the other one at Dewey.

 

He was more than exhausted… He felt like he was going to collapse again, but he managed to sit on Louie's bed. He took a deep breath and began to dry himself.

 

He heard a voice.

“What?” Louie was in front of him with his hand outstretched. 

 

“Give me your shirt, we have to hide our clothes, we can not explain why they are wet”

 

“Oh.. you’re right…”

 

Huey got undressed and accepted the pajamas his brother offered him. Dewey approached them and took the clothes that Louie was carrying.

 

“I know the perfect place to hide them” and continued to kick them under the their bunk “There… all done!”

 

Louie smiled at his brother’s antics, but his smile faded when he glanced at Huey.

 

“You look awful”

 

“Thanks” Huey answered with half-lidded eyes and got up from his where he was sitting.

 

“You are not going to drop dead, are you?”

 

Huey sighed tiredly “No Dewey, I’m not going to drop dead”

 

_…You are too weak…_

 

“I’m not weak”

 

Dewey rised his hands apologetically “I never said you were”

 

Huey looked at him confused, and without saying another word he climbed the ladder of his bunk with cramped legs and stiff hands. The moment his head touched the pillow he was out like a light.

 

Dewey and Louie remained in their places, and looked at each other with concern.

 

“How do you feel?” Louie asked once he heard Huey's slight snoring.

 

“Like I really need my beauty sleep“ he answered before releasing a yawn.

 

“Dude, I’m being serious! Do you feel any different?”

 

“Not really” Dewey shrugged.

 

“Then it’s only him” Louie looked at his older brother bunk and Dewey followed his gaze.

 

“I see what you mean…” Even Dewey admitted that something strange was happening with their brother and not in a good way.

 

“We have to keep an eye on him” whispered Louie “And if things get worse we’ll tell our uncle” and Dewey nodded.

 

It was settled.

 

They went to their respective bunks and Louie turned off the night light without knowing that someone had heard them.


	8. Chapter 8

 

“Launchpad! I told not to drive through the traps!”

 

Dewey groaned, covering his head with his blanket.

 

 Because of the light entering the room it was assumed that it was indeed already morning even though his biological clock told him that it had only been 5 minutes since he went to bed. He was tired, no, cross that out ... He was dead! and wanted to keep sleeping for some more hours.

 

Letting out a sigh he snuggled his head against his pillow and pleased with a smile in his beak he lost himself again in the immensity of his dream when…

 

He heard a loud screech of tires followed by a characteristic "I'm sorry Mr. Mcduck!”

 

No way...

 

Suddenly he opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure, maybe he had heard wrong, perhaps it had been a fragment of a dream, but the hustle and bustle that came from outside told him otherwise.

 

He removed the blanket from the bed and sat down when he heard someone slam the principal door and a loud voice that he easily recognized.

 

"Nothing better than starting the day dodging deadly traps, am I right Mr. McDuck?”

 

His fatigue had completely disappeared in an instant. He rose from his bed, jumped down and ran to the window, sticking his face and hands against the glass.

 

And a few meters away from the porch he could see the great black limousine, his uncle and his best and coolest friend:

 

“Launchpad?”

 

He asked surprised, since they hadn’t left the mansion Scrooge had not requested his services, he and his friend had only kept in touch by calls, messages and video calls. And if he was here, it could only mean one thing.

 

"It can't be…" he said smiling.

 

Then he turned to his brothers who were still sleeping oblivious of the situation.

 

"Hey guys, wake up!" He called them without moving away from the window, the other two did not react and he tried again.

 

"Huey, Louie come here!" He said with more encouragement and in response he received a pillow in the face from the first bunk where the youngest slept. He couldn't hear what he grumbled upset.

 

Dewey rolled his eyes; this was great news and they couldn't miss it. Before he could pull them from their respective beds Webby entered the room like a lightning, slamming the door behind her.

 

"Guys are not going to believe this!" She shouted with all her might. Huey woke up alarmed letting out a shriek and Louie turned on his back growling and ran his hands over his face pulling his cheeks furiously.

 

"What's going on?" panted the oldest while looking for some threat with his heart beating at a thousand miles per hour.

 

"Launchpad is outside!" Dewey announced getting his face against the window again.

 

"And it wasn't just him!" Webby exclaimed, waving her arms excitedly and jumping. "I saw Mr McDuck go out with Gyro at dawn and come back an hour later!”

 

"That's weird …" Huey commented, rubbing his eyes trying to get the sleep off of him.

 

“At dawn? Do you never sleep?” Louie asked before covering himself with the blankets and tiredly curled up in his bed in an attempt to block the sound of his annoying brothers.

 

But obviously they weren't going to keep silent.

 

“Thank you very much Mr. McDee! I will always carry it with me!” The pilot exclaimed happily.

 

It was time to find out what they were up to.

 

Dewey opened the old window of his room hoping that the squeak of the hinge would not warn his uncle of his attempt. A pleasant and warm summer breeze entered the room and with it the words of Scrooge.

 

"Anyway … it's time for breakfast, Donald went to wake the children," said Scrooge entering the mansion behind Launchpad who exclaimed "Everything ready for a new adventure!" And closed the door.

 

Dewey turned to Webby, his eyes were shining and a huge smile slowly formed on his face meanwhile the girl made a wordless high pitched noise of surprise.

 

Without expecting it, she ran towards Dewey “I can’t believe it! We're going out!” She shouted, shaking his shoulders and head like a rattle.

 

"Really? And why now?” Huey asked, peeking out from his bunk.

 

"Exact! Why now when I’m trying to sleep!” Louie complained covering his head with his pillow.

 

"Good morning guys!”

 

They all turned when they heard the unintelligible greeting of a cheerful Donald.

 

“Good thing you’re already awake! Get ready because today we will have a busy day,” he said as he pulled clean clothes from the drawers and then handed them to Dewey.

 

"Uh … and why is that?" Asked the one in blue, putting aside the clothes.

 

"Well, apparently your uncle changed his mind about that silly punishment!" The children didn't believe him and Dewey crossed his arms in annoyance.

 

Donald tried to keep his smile on his beak, but he couldn't and let out a sigh running a hand over his face.

 

“I've already told you that I’m trying to hide something from you, Scrooge knows that if I find out something I would tell you immediately, he has me blind, I don’t know what made him change his mind”

 

And they knew it, the meetings his uncle attended was only to let him know of the new restrictive rules, which he was forced to follow.

 

And Mrs. Beakly, although she attended all the meetings, including those that Donald couldn’t, had more knowledge and information, which by her position could not reveal. She had to follow Scrooge's orders, and yet she had the ability to influence those rules.

 

Louie sat on his bed, tired but focused. "I knew it … he’s gone crazy"

 

If Donald weren’t tired of… well everything, he would have scolded his nephew.

 

"Anyway," Dewey interrupted. "Where are we going?"

 

“To discover a lost city? To visit some ruins at the bottom of the sea?” Proposed Webby excitedly.

 

"Nope," Donald replied as he pulled Louie from his waist who was holding the frame of his bunk with a strong grip.

 

"Does it matter?” Webby exclaimed “I’m always ready for everything, wait here, let me get my tools!” but before she could leave Donald stopped her with the arm that didn't carry Louie.

 

“That won’t be necessary! It’s not going to be one of those adventures, it will be a nice and relaxing family outing!” He said hitting the air with his fist, highlighting his happiness.

 

“I hope so…” he added.

 

Then he left Louie on the floor and without turning to see him stopped him from the collar of his pajamas before he could return to his bunk.

 

"So, get ready, see you in the dining room in ten minutes!" And he left the room while whistling a tune they didn't recognize.

 

He was happy, his uncle had apologized and reconciled with the children, and now he showed his affection by sharing a moment with them that did not include seeking treasures, material goods or quench his thirst for adventure, and that really touched him.

 

"Donald" the aforementioned jumped in fright when he heard Mrs. Beakly behind him, he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear her coming.

 

The housekeeper did not flinch "Mr. McDuck requires your presence in the boardroom”

 

The children looked at each other.

 

“That was weird… like, boom!”  Dewey made an expression with his hands as if something had exploded in his head.

 

“This is going to be epic!” exclaimed Webby before throwing their respective clothes at his friends. Huey was too slow to catch his shirt with his hands, it hit him in the face.

 

“I'm going to get ready, guys! I see you downstairs!” Webby exclaimed loudly in excitement and went out closing the door.

 

“Alright! Let’s get this party sta-ar-ted!” sang Dewey and then he made a characteristic party horn sound with his mouth. His brothers just groaned in annoyance.

 

"I don't understand what made him change his mind," Huey commented as he got off his bunk.

 

“Agh! Who cares!” snapped Louie “Why he didn’t tell us last night, we could have avoided many problems!” he said while putting on his sweatshirt.

 

“Oh, come on! You always get cranky when you’re tired!” said Dewey while looking in the mirror combing his feathers.

 

“You make me cranky” he said deadpanned and shoved his brother aside.

 

"You know you're going to end up carrying that, right?" the youngest asked looking through the reflection at Huey who had put on a red sweater that he saved only for winter.

 

“It’s like 80 degrees outside!” agreed Dewey.

 

“I'm not going to risk it if it rains again” Huey answered defensively and his brother just shrugged.

 

But the truth is that he was cold, so cold.

 

“Uh… Dewford, what are you doing?”

 

When Huey turned to see what Louie was referring to, they found the one in blue in a strange position trying to see his back. It looked like a dog chasing its tail.

 

“I’m making sure nothing is out of the ordinary”

 

Oh…

 

They already knew what he meant.

 

"Nope," Huey said, approaching to inspect him. “There’s no rests of mud, no unhooked feathers or visible scratches”

 

“Dude, that was uncomfortable”

 

Huey ignored him and then he asked for a second opinion “We’re not in bad shape, right?”

 

Louie looked at them, there were just dark circles under their eyes, aside from that there was nothing that could give them away and he was grateful for the fact that his brothers were not harmed, obviously he wasn’t going to say it.

 

“Not really, Uncle Donald would’ve had already noticed”

 

“In that case, let’s get going, I’m starving!” stated Dewey.

 

“You are always starving” Louie mocked him.

 

“Well I’m a growing duckling”

 

Dewey looked for his dart gun and Huey his notebook to plan the ride, he didn’t know where they were going and wanted to be prepared just in case.

 

“Are you seriously planning to make a list? Ow! Stop that!” Louie complained, removing a dart from his head.

 

“A good Junior Woodchuck always prepares for adventure” then he started writing “Maybe we just need the basics like water, food, a map, flashlight, chainsaw… Hey!” he exclaimed when Dewey called him nerd and a dart flew above his head.

 

“No need for that! I was born ready!” exclaimed Dewey and just like that he ran out of the room, his brothers rolled their eyes.

 

“Come on, I’m sure Scrooge can buy us whatever we need” said Louie walking towards the door and Huey followed him feeling displeased.

 

Everyone was already at the table and yesterday's tension had vanished. Donald talked to Scrooge and for the first time in a very long time it seemed that they were having a normal conversation, meanwhile Webby and Dewey, who had arrived seconds before his brothers, eat... devoured their breakfast.

 

“Webby, this is not a race!” her grandmother scolded her.

 

The girl swallowed her food before apologizing.

 

“The same goes to you, Dewey…” Commented the housekeeper.

 

“Fuuune…!”

 

“And stop talking with your mouth full!” 

 

“Fine!”

 

When Huey and Louie took their seats their uncle Scrooge acknowledged them with a smile.

 

“Ah! There you are, lads! Did you sleep well with that dreadful storm?”

 

Before Huey could answer something stupid that could give them away, Louie intervened.

 

“Yeah, it’s kinda easy once you get used to uncle Donald’s snores”

 

Scrooge covered his laugh with a cough, while his nephew glared at him.

 

“Anyway…” he cleared his throat “Mrs. Beakly, could you give the children their presents?”

 

“The what now?”

 

“Cool!”

 

“I love presents!”

 

The answers were varied while the housekeeper placed small boxes on the table.

Huey took the box in his hands while examining it. To be fair it looked rather simple, it didn’t even had a bow to be considered a present.

 

“Woah!” exclaimed Dewey who now had some kind of bracelet on his wrist.

 

“It’s like a friendship bracelet! Thanks Mr. Scrooge!” added Webby keeping the item close to her chest.

 

Huey opened the box, while his brother took his own present to examine it with a critical eye probably trying to calculate its value.

 

“Obsidian” Huey announced with a smile before Louie could ask what that material was.

 

“Is someone dying or something?” asked suddenly the youngest. It was unusual for his uncle to act that way.

 

“Wha… O-Of course no!” answered Scrooge rather alarmed “Why would you… AGH! Kids these days!”

 

Huey ignored them, while Louie was trying to explain the reason to his questioning, he started to examine his present. Apparently just like the others the bracelet was thin but sturdy, simple but elegant, and kind of heavy, and beneath the stone was the trace of a rectangle like the case of a watch.

 

“Anyway… thanks uncle Scrooge” then Louie elbowed his oldest brother.

 

“Uh… yeah! Thanks uncle Scrooge!” responded Huey quickly.

 

“You are welcome!” Do not take the off, they are valuable!”

 

Louie giggled while rubbing his hands with a look that said “Money”

 

“Like how much are we talking about?”

 

Scrooge frowned “Not enough to sell them on the so-called internet but very dear to me that you will be in trouble if you lose it” he said deadpanned and Louie crosses his arms.

 

“Anyway, don’t take them off”

 

“Why? Is this some kind of tracker?” asked innocently Huey without noticing how Mrs. Beakly stopped her drink midair and how Scrooge’s tensed for a second.

 

“Of course no!” Exclaimed his uncle immediately “Those are hidden on your clothes”

 

And as expected all the ducklings including Donald were twisting around trying to find the non-existent tracker which caused Scrooge to laugh.

 

Mrs. Beakly rose from her seat “There are no trackers on your clothes, those are quite expensive and I suggest we better get going if we want to make it on time” and started to pick up the dishes, Donald rose as well to help her.

 

Scrooge left the room with eagerness followed by a very enthusiastic Webby with Dewey behind them.

 

“Alright…” Louie sighed “Let’s do this before I change my mind” 

 

Actually, he had no choice but to go out with them no matter how much he wanted to stay in bed so he followed Dewey.

 

Huey was about to jump out of his seat as well when a voice stopped him.

 

“I see that you didn't like the breakfast I made” Mrs. Beakly was holding his dish.

 

“Uh… I’m not really hungry…” he said, and it wasn’t actually a lie. He felt a knot in his stomach and the sweet smell of jam, milk and honey made him feel nauseous.

 

She stared at him with an arched eyebrow.

 

“I’m just not in the mood for pancakes” his smile felt awkward and forced, but fortunately Mrs. Beakly didn´t insist.

 

“Very well…” then she gave Huey a big basket full of food apparently, which made him stumble and almost drop it because… gosh! it was heavy!

 

“I made some sandwiches, take one if you feel hungry and please, take them to the car”

 

“O-okay… no problem! And thanks, by the way…” he said with a restrained voice trying to maneuver the basket.

 

Once he left the room his arms couldn’t hold the package any longer and with all the care he could muster he left it on the floor. He really needed to gain some muscle.

 

After shaking his arms to reduce the pain he looked inside the basket and as he suspected there was food, so either way they were going to a picnic or to a very expensive place and Scrooge didn’t want to pay extra for food they could bring along.

 

Huey put his hands on his hips thinking that maybe dragging the basket could be a good idea

 

“Need help, buddy?” asked Launchpad who appeared next to him.

 

“Actually yes, thank you”

 

Huey felt relieved, Launchpad carried the basket easily and both went outside the manor. The moment the light hit his face he could feel a headache starting at the back of his head, he closed his eyes and adjusted his cap to get some shade.

 

“What a beautiful day isn´t it?”

 

Huey wanted to say no, but Launchpad didn’t wait for an answer and walked happily to the car to store the basket in the trunk.

 

“Everything’s ready Mr. McDuck!”

 

 Next to the car Webby and Dewey looked at the youngest with a frown and crossed arms, apparently, they were arguing but the moment Scrooge got into his car Louie went to launchpad.

 

…and dropped the credit card on the floor.

 

"Oh no! Launchpad, look what you dropped!” He exclaimed with a terrible performance and Huey understood why they were arguing. “Be careful, you wouldn't like someone to take it away!"

 

Launchpad turned around and saw the item “Gasp!” he actually said that.

 

“Thank you so much, little dude! I knew I could always count on you! You are such a great friend!”

 

And lifted Louie from the floor hugging him.

 

“Uh… yeah, no problem!”

 

Even after the hug ended Louie felt uncomfortable and his face showed it. He had received a good lesson, and Huey hoped he had learned from it.

 

“There. Happy?” Louie asked to Dewey who was smiling smugly.

 

Donald and Beakly appeared behind Huey, and Launchpad opened the door for everyone to enter.

 

"So… Where are we going?" Dewey asked excitedly.

 

"To a place without explosions, mystery or danger," said Donald happily, settling comfortably in his seat.

 

Five minutes later Donald was clinging to his seat with his heart beating a thousand miles per hour and about to get a nervous breakdown just like Louie, meanwhile Dewey and Webby were just laughing excitedly.

 

“Launchpad! How many times do I have to tell you not to drive through the traps!” Scrooge shouted angrily.

 

“I´m sorry Mr. McDuck!”

 

"You should’ve deactivated them!" Exclaimed Donald.

 

“And leave my house unprotected? Of course not!”

 

“I don't think there are any more traps left” commented Mrs. Beakly.

 

And for that everyone, except Scrooge, felt happy and relieved.

 

Huey could feel that his body was gradually warming up and being with his family produced a sense of security that slowly left him asleep but the loud sound of a horn made him wake up and he had to grab his uncle Donald's arm when the car made a sharp turn. he had forgotten how Launchpad drove.

 

“I have no idea where we´re going and the intrigue is killing me!” exclaimed Webby.

 

“Yeah! Tell us already!” demanded Dewey as he looked through the window.  

 

Huey took out his notebook and pencil ready for the answer, while Mrs. Beakly adjusted her glasses and pulled out a list from her bag.

 

“I prepared an itinerary with all the available and age-appropriate activities for the children meanwhile we enjoy whatever the resort can offer us…"

 

“Resort?” asked Huey “uh… uncle Scrooge, by any chance… are we going to Adventureland?”

 

His uncle responded with a smile that made him confirm his suspicions.

 

“No way…” Louie babbled while his brother in blue slowly opened his beak in a huge smile.

 

Webby with a confused look was about to ask what happened when the triplets let out excited screams. Donald had to cover his ears but could not help smiling at his antics.

 

"I've waited all my life for this moment!" shouted Dewey “I’m must be dreaming, come on Louie pinch me!” but his brother slapped him.

 

“Ow! Not that hard!”

 

“Well, at least we know you are awake!” Louie giggled but stopped when he felt Donald’s gaze on him.

 

Huey took out his phone and started looking for information to show it to Webby “I’ve heard it has a 456-feet-high roller coaster!”

 

“Oh… we’re definitely taking that ride!” announced Dewey.

 

“No, you´re not” answered Donald.

 

They entered the huge parking lot, in the distance you could hear the screams of people who enjoyed a game at that time, Launchpad began to look for a parking space without slowing down.

 

Scrooge with his back straight and a smile on his beak said "You're welcome" and took the tickets for the children from his pocket.

 

"Unlimited access tickets!" Yelled Webby excitedly, this was going to be her first experience in an amusement park.

 

“Thanks uncle Scrooge!” the triplets said in unison.

 

The family got out of the car.

 

"Let it be clear that the children will only go to age-appropriate rides," said Mrs. Beakly.

 

“Of course they will” answered Scrooge nonchalant waving his hand, but a sound interrupted him and growling he pulled out his golden cell phone.

 

“What?”

 

"It's me" Gyro's voice was heard "I have bad news"

 

Scrooge frowned, raised a finger towards his family apologizing and walked away from them. Confused the others looked at Mrs. Beakly who just shrugged.

 

“Alright kiddos! We are going to have so much fun!” announced Launchpad oblivious of the situation.

 

“You betcha!”

 

The conversation was interrupted when they heard Scrooge shout:

 

 "And why are you telling me until now?!"

 

Everyone turned back to him, even the families who passed a few steps away from him, decided to walk faster to get away.

 

“Oh phoey…”

 

“You are the one in charge! I don't care if your intern didn't notice!” And ended the call disdainfully.

 

He walked grumbling between his teeth and with a murderous look towards his family. Already in front of them he sighed, adjusted his hat and smiled.

 

"There has been a change of plans" a tic was present in his left eye. "For uh… certain reasons I will have to return to my office" the protests were swift.

 

"What? Why?” Dewey hung on Launchpad's arm; he didn't want to let him go.

 

Donald frowned and crossed his arms, but Mrs. Beakly looked at him seriously and nodded.

 

"Well, we can wait for you while the kids play," she suggested.

 

"Do you want us to call you a taxi?" Dewey asked without letting go of Launchpad.

 

"Why would I need a ..." and realized that his nephew wanted to pay time with one of his best friends.

 

Tiredly, he ran his hand over his face.

 

"I thought it would be a family outing," Donald complained petulantly and Scrooge frowned.

 

Launchpad feeling the sudden change intervened to the rescue.

 

"I'm sorry, little one," he said, letting go of Dewey's grip. "Mr. McDee needs a driver to crash him at work, and that's me."

 

The duck crossed his arms "Fine …"

 

"We will be back as soon as possible," he announced, disheveling Dewey’s feathers and, after adjusting his jacket and hat, he opened the door of the car.

 

Huey couldn’t hear what his family were saying. His head was pounding, he couldn’t think, a fog settled on his mind making him feel drained and numb. He brought his hand to his head to mitigate the pain feeling Louie's gaze on him, but suddenly he an idea appeared, an order… and he felt the imperative need to fulfill it.

 

His mind cleared.

 

"Wait!"

 

Everyone turned to Huey.

 

"Can I go with you?" The surprise was for everyone because nobody expected it.

 

"Honey, I don't think it's a good idea," said Mrs. Beakly.

 

"Are you ditching us too?" Dewey exclaimed indignantly while Louie stared at him with an unreadable expression.

 

"I'm sorry, but this is a strictly business affair," said the duck before getting into the car.

 

“But Fenton is going to be there! Can I go uncle Donald?”

 

Donald looked at him sympathetic "Uh … I-"

 

"Thanks!" Then he ran to his uncle Scrooge before he closed the door.

 

 "Please, I would like to ask him several questions about … you know what … I promise not to be a bother!" He plead with clasped hands and looking at him like a lost puppy.

 

Scrooge did not tolerate that look, and it was obvious because his expression changed dramatically showing his discomfort.

 

“Pretty please!” Huey begged.

 

Donald was about to push his nephew away to stop insisting, but to his surprise Scrooge agreed.

 

“Fine! But we are not going back before if you get bored!”

 

"Yes!" Huey raised his fists into the air triumphantly and climbed into the car while Scrooge rolled his eyes.

 

"See in a few hours!" Launchpad said goodbye and started the engine.

 

"... that was… unexpected" Webby announced after watching them leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience and for reading this story, I know this might be going rather slowly but next chapter we'll discover some interesting secrets thanks to certain intern.


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